Rep. Jason Chaffetz: Chairman Of Glenn Beck's Oversight Committee

April 04, 2011 12:47 pm ET

Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT), a prominent "rising star" in the House GOP caucus, has often used his position on the House Oversight Committee to serve as Glenn Beck's man in Congress. Chaffetz has repeatedly responded to Beck's conspiracy theories by demanding documents from the parties involved or even introducing legislation. Beck has noticed Chaffetz's efforts, repeatedly applauding him as one of the "good Republicans" his audience can "trust." Chaffetz, a frequent Beck guest, has likewise declared the Fox host a "great educator" and participated in his events, even scheduling a retreat for his staff so that they could attend Beck's Restoring Honor rally.

Chaffetz
And Beck Are Partners In Promoting Absurd Conspiracies

After Beck Complained Of ACORN's Census
Partnership, Chaffetz Introduced Bill To Discourage It

March
18, 2009: Fox News Reported ACORN "Signed On As A National Partner" With Census
Bureau. In March 2009, Fox News reported that "The Association of Community
Organizations for Reform Now signed on as a national partner with the U.S.
Census Bureau in February 2009 to assist with the recruitment of the 1.4
million temporary workers needed to go door-to-door to count every person in the
United States." [FoxNews.com, 3/18/09]

May
7, 2009: Beck Said ACORN Is "A National Partner Of The U.S. Census Bureau... That
Doesn't Sound Like A Good Idea." On the May 7, 2009, edition
of his Fox News show, Beck said of ACORN:

Let me tell you something, they are eligible for billions of
dollars in taxpayer dollars in the stimulus bill. They say they're not going to
go for any of that. Really? What are you -- are you suddenly flush with cash?
Hey, (INAUDIBLE) plenty here.

Well, what happened here? Why are they now a national partner
of the U.S. Census Bureau
to help recruit workers to count every person in the United States. That
doesn't seem like a good idea. [Fox News, Glenn
Beck, 5/7/09, via Nexis]

May 11, 2009: Chaffetz Signed House
GOP Letter Urging Census Bureau To Cut Ties With ACORN. A letter from Issa
and the other Republican members of the House
Subcommittee on Information Policy, Census, and National Archives to U.S. Census Bureau acting director
Thomas Mesenbourg stated:

[W]e write to request that the Census Bureau
reconsider its inclusion of ACORN in the
Planning Partnership Program for the 2010 Census. ACORN's involvement
may compromise our shared commitment to an apolitical and accurate census count.

[...]

No one questions the desire of the Census Bureau to
ensure the integrity of the census enumeration.
However, if the Bureau believes that ACORN should
remain a partner, we request written explanation of why its involvement is so
essential that the credibility of the 2010 Census should be
jeopardized. [GOP.gov, 5/11/09]

May
11, 2009: Beck Said ACORN's Census Participation "Is National Suicide." On his May 11, 2009, show, Beck said of ACORN: "These
people are going to be -- they're going to go door-to- door to take the census, which
changes everything. It changes where federal dollars go. It changes everything,
and we're hiring them for the census. This is insanity -- this is suicide. This is national
suicide." [Fox News, Glenn Beck,
5/11/09, via Nexis]

June 24, 2009: Chaffetz Announced
Legislation To Encourage Census Bureau to Partner With Post Office, Not ACORN."
From a Chaffetz press release:

Today Rep. Jason Chaffetz announced he will introduce legislation
requiring the Commerce Department's execution of the 2010 Census to be
conducted in partnership with the United States Post Office. The Census
previously announced a need to hire in excess of 750,000 people to conduct the
Census. The Post Office has 760,000 employees.

In a controversial approach, the Census previously announced it is
partnering with a multitude of community organizations, including ACORN, to
find people to hire to gather Census data. In committee hearings Rep.
Chaffetz and others expressed serious reservations about the lack of standards
offered by the Census to ensure nefarious organizations and individuals are
excluded from gathering this sensitive data.

"It is imperative the American People have the utmost confidence
in the collection of Census data. We should not rely upon ACORN to gather
Census data. I don't trust ACORN and neither do the American people. [Press
Release, Chaffetz.House.gov, 6/24/09]

June 24, 2009: Chaffetz Appeared On
Beck's Radio Show To Discuss Proposed Legislation; Beck Called It "Total Common
Sense." From Beck's June 24, 2009, radio show:

GLENN: We have Congressman Jason Chaffetz on the phone who I
have to tell you has come up with, you want to talk about common sense, here's
common sense. The census is a nightmare and the census should not be ACORN
or its subsidiaries or anything like it, they should not be getting money to do
the census. And he brought up an idea in congress, and are you introducing this
bill today?

CONGRESSMAN CHAFFETZ: Well, I'll be introducing it later this
week but we just unveiled it today. Yeah, I'm excited about it.

GLENN: Okay. Explain what it is.

CONGRESSMAN CHAFFETZ: Well, on the one hand you have the census
who is going to go out and hire some 750,000 people to count all Americans, and
they are engaging with partners like ACORN to go out and find all these people
to go and count everybody in America. But I also sit on the subcommittee that
deals with the post office which is suffering from a huge financial crisis
itself. Well, they happen to have 760,000 postal employees who are already
charged with going to every home in America. So why would we be going out and
getting, engaging ourselves with the likes of ACORN when we already have
federal workers who already go to all these homes?

GLENN: May I [say,] total common sense. [Premiere
Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program,6/24/09, via GlennBeck.com]

BECK: The good news is, though,
the bill is being worked on now by Republicans and Democrats. Bipartisan. It's cap-and-trade.

The machinery, hmm -- the
machinery is there. A patent for the device was worked on by CO2e.com CEO Carlton
Bartels. After he filed for his patent on his system to trade residential carbon credits, he was killed in the 9/11
attacks. But his wife shopped the idea around, able to find a buyer for it.

Well, a buyer ended up being the
guy who -- I hate to break it to you -- not a good guy. He's committed massive
accounting fraud, manipulated earnings on his company in order to make huge
bonuses. Yes. He didn't really go to jail or anything, because well, he's
Franklin Rains. I mean, he's got a lot of buddies.

He was the CEO of Fannie Mae at the time. Fannie Mae and Franklin Raines, this guy is a shady individual.
And Fannie Mae, didn't they
cause all the trouble? Weren't they involved in all the mortgage problems? Yes.
They actually bought the technology.

By the way, here's another weird
coincidence. The U.S. Patent and Trade Office OK'd that patent on November 7th, 2006.

What happened on November 6th,
2006? The Democrats took control of Congress. Just a coincidence.

[...]

BECK: The only ones involved in this, you know, are the corrupt
Franklin Raines, Mr. Redistribution of Wealth, which I haven't introduced yet.
This guy? Barack Obama. But I'm sure he knew nothing about it. He's not
involved.

Erase this line right here, I'll tell you that.

No. No call.

Barack Obama, Franklin Raines, Al Gore, Mr. Profiteer. That's
great! And all the people who the House and Senate are currently saying are the
bad guys, the Goldman Sachs people. Wow! This is going to work out great, much
to your advantage. Not these guys - not their advantage. No, no, no. Or these.
We don't really know who that - forget about it. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 4/26/10, via Nexis]

April
29, 2010: Fannie Mae Patent Was Part Of The "To-Do List" For The Cap-And-Trade
"Scam." From Beck's Fox News show:

BECK: It's what I like to call a
scam. OK? It's a scam. Cap-and-trade is a scam.

Now, if I'm going to make this
into an industry, I've got a to-do list.

[...]

BECK: Do you remember Fannie Mae? Fannie Mae is currently one of the bad guys that everybody is
saying, wait a minute, why is Goldman Sachs just being hung out to dry? Why
isn't Freddie or Fannie?

Fannie Mae is
the mortgage industry that has bundled up mortgages like crazy and created a
lot of the problems that we have. In fact, Franklin Raines is a really bad
dude. Franklin Raines, you might remember him from the Clinton administration.
So we have some ties to Clinton now.

The Clinton administration, he
ran the office of management for the budget, he's now running Fannie Mae for five years. In that five-year period, Franklin
Raines, your tax dollars, makes $90 million -- in a five- year period, $90
million. His take.

He's also the guy -- you might
remember the stories -- he inflated the earnings of Fannie so he could get
those bonuses. Well, it went to court and everything else and he had to pay --
how much did he have to pay back? None of which I think he actually paid back,
but they sure slapped him on the hands.

Well, while he's at Fannie Mae, somebody comes to his attention that has technology,
a patent. It
hasn't received its patent yet, but it's going to, gosh darn it. As soon as the
Democrats are elected -- in fact, this technology receives its patent the
day after in 2006, the very next day that Congress was taken over by the
Democrats. What a weird coincidence, hmm? I'm sure that's all it is.

So, he finds this technology and
he buys it. The people at Fannie Mae say, why are we buying this? We're for mortgages.
We're for homes. He says, no, no, no.

So, step number three:
technology. We have the exchange, we have our investors, we have the
technology. Now, we need the law. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 4/29/10, via Nexis]

May
4, 2010: Beck Said Patent Is Part Of "Crime, Inc." Conspiracy. From Beck's Fox News show:

BECK: All right. In the
last couple of weeks, I've been telling you about Crime, Inc. I'm telling you,
this is the biggest thing we've ever, ever done. And yes, I am going to rely on
you to get the word out.

And also, thank you for all of
the tips on this. I've been kind of going over Joyce Foundation, who is on the
board of the Joyce Foundation - Barack Obama. They granted $1.1 million to
start the Chicago Climate Exchange.

Al Gore's company, GIM, invested
in it. That's great. Meanwhile, when Franklin Raines was the head of Fannie Mae - Fannie Mae - they do mortgages. This guy. He's secured a patent for system of emissions trading.

Even the people at Fannie Mae said,
"Emissions trading - we do loans. We do houses and mortgages. Why would we
need something for carbon distribution?" That would be a little like G.M.
acquiring a patent for student loans and people would go why? Except in
this one, nobody is asking why?

Raines left. He left in disgrace
because he was cooking the books for bonus money. He walked away with $90
million. So you can't just have him discredited. No, no, no. You need to clean
his image up.

If I told you that Bernie Madoff
was with the president today, you'd say that's crazy. That's outrageous. A guy
who left in disgrace, went to jail. Here, if I said he was at the business
council with the president of the United States and all these credible business
people, trying to fix the economy.

Play this tape. You'd say I'm
crazy. Bernie Madoff isn't there. No way. You are right. You are right. Bernie
- stop the tape. Bernie Madoff was not there, but Franklin Raines was.

How? Why? In a room full of
credible business leaders, the man has been washed clean. After all, he's now
on the board of the enterprise community partners, which he asked Joyce
Foundation for money to start up another green group called Emerald Cities.

Now, Emerald Cities is a group
all about making the cities green. And the Emerald board members? Oh, they're
great! SEIU. AFL-CIO. Green for all. Van Jones' program. And let's follow the
yellow brick road all the way to peek behind the curtain and we find the
wizard. The wizard of not just Crime, Inc., but the whole damn thing. [Fox
News, Glenn Beck, 5/4/10, via Nexis]

May
13, 2010: Chaffetz And Issa Demanded Documents From Fannie Mae Regarding The
Patent. From the letter from Chaffetz
and then-Oversight Committee ranking member Darrell Issa (R-CA) to Fannie Mae
president and CEO Michael Williams:

It was recently brought to our
attention that Fannie Mae's former CEO, Franklin Raines, is credited with
patenting a system for residential emissions trading (Patent No. 6,904,336).
The patent was filed with the US Patent and Trademark Office on November 8,
2002, and issued on June 7, 2005. The patent was assigned to Fannie Mae and
CO2e.com, LLC.

We are troubled by evidence
that, while Fannie Mae was funding hundreds of billions of dollars in risky
mortgages that were a primary cause of the financial crisis, it was
simultaneously pursuing a patent to capitalize on the potential of legislative
efforts that would have the effect of increasing energy costs to millions of
Americans.

[...]

We are writing to request more
information about the purpose of Fannie Mae's pursuit of this patent and Fannie
Mae's financial stake in the outcome of the current debate in Congress over a
proposed cap-and-trade energy tax.

In order to assist the Committee
with its investigation of this matter, please provide the following information
no later than close of business on Thursday, May 27, 2010:

May 17,
2010: On Fox News, Beck Hosted Chaffetz And Thanked Him For Sending The Letter.
From Beck's Fox News program:

BECK: I'm talking about
"Crime Inc." now -- a story we've been talking about involving a
group of government insiders who stand to make money off of cap-and-trade in
a big way if legislation passes. One of the players, strangely, is this man,
Franklin Raines. He was the former CEO of Fannie Mae. He left the company in 2004 after he knowingly
inflated earnings by $9 billion. Why? So everybody could get their bonuses.

Raines, when he was a CEO, he
and a couple of other Fannie executives also did something very strange --
applied for patents on residential admissions trading programs. Now, why
would Fannie Mae and Franklin Raines care about cap-and-trade?

That's what my next guest wants
to know. Representative Jason Chaffetz of Utah sits on the committee of oversight and government
reform. He joins me now from Salt Lake City.

Jason, you and Representative
Issa filed for records to be produced. I think it was on Friday. Thank you for
standing for this. Can you tell me why would Fannie own cap-and-trade technology?

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R),
UTAH: What I do know is there are billions upon billions of dollars at play and
why would they use those resources in a cap-and-trade scheme that they would personally benefit from and
what sort of money is trading hands when Franklin Raines then assigns that patent to
Fannie and Freddie. It's just -- this does not smell right. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 5/17/2010, via Nexis]

On
behalf of the Federal Housing Finance Agency, acting as conservator for Fannie Mae,
I am responding to your letter of May 13, 2010 to Michael Williams, Fannie Mae
President and Chief Executive
Officer.

[...]

Like many
others in the housing industry Fannie Mae felt in the early 2000s that green
building trends would further expand to residential housing. During this time,
Fannie Mae, in coordination CO2e.com LLC, explored the possibility of helping
residential housing developers and home builders gain access to capital by
promoting the exchange of energy savings to be realized by building energy
efficient homes. Fannie Mae viewed this concept at the time as a means to
contribute to the financing of residential housing developments, without
consideration for and independently from legislative efforts to regulate
greenhouse gas emissions. In
short, the purpose of the invention described in the patent was to encourage
the financing of energy efficient homes.

In
filing the patent application, Fannie Mae did not intend to enter the energy
trading business. Residential emission trading, if developed in the market,
would be conducted by others in the financial industry or other subject matter
experts. Similarly Fannie Mae did not pursue a patent out of a desire for
potential royalties, but instead with the hope that it could help facilitate
the implementation by others of its original concept that residential builders
could leverage their investments made in building energy efficient houses. Fannie
Mae and CO2e.com LLC opted to protect this business method through the joint
filing of a patent application to allow the concept to be implemented by
industry participants without their having to fear patent and royalty claims by
others, should others obtain a patent on the concept if Fannie Mae and CO2e.com
LLC did not.

This approach was consistent with
many financial industry service provider patent programs at a time when filings
were often defensive in nature, seeking to ensure that business objectives were
not thwarted by infringement claims from others, including so-called
"non-practicing entities" or "patent trolls" who had no business
interest other than bringing patent infringement claims. These parties often
used threatened or actual lawsuits to secure license payments from service
providers and manufacturers, who settled rather than incur the cost of
litigation.

Fannie Mae has no position on cap-and-trade
legislation and Fannie Mae has not engaged in any lobbying efforts related to
cap-and-trade legislation. To the best of our knowledge, Fannie Mae representatives
have not had communications with Members of Congress or their staffs regarding legislation
affecting energy markets.

In sum, neither the patent nor any
actions of Fannie Mae are related to involvement in cap-and-trade legislation
or trading emission credits.

BECK: They've got --
they've got, I think, four patents out. They all are around cap-and-trade, but
this is residential. When you think of cap-and-trade, you think, "Oh, you
know, OK, so Exxon has to pay some more money for cap-and-trade." No, no,
no -- this is your individual house, correct?

CHAFFETZ: Yes. They even have a
patent -- there's another patent we found that actually puts a lock on your
individual outlets -- it's literally to have a pattern for this -- to
lock your individual outlet so that they can control the mechanism by which you
lock that little outlet. It's unbelievable.

BECK: Thank you, Jason. We
appreciate it. We'll talk again.

America, do you -

CHAFFETZ: Thanks, Glenn.

BECK: -- do you remember when we talked about
cap-and-trade? Do you remember when we talked about -- what is that, that power
thing that we talked about, they had a power, the smart grid. Yes. Why would
you need a lock on your outlet for your own home?

For more on Crime Inc., go to
GlennBeck.com and get the latest information on this story. This is big and we
need your help. [Fox News, Glenn Beck,
5/17/10, via Nexis]

BECK: But [Franklin Raines]
started an enterprise and while he was at Fannie Mae, he bought a couple of pieces of technology. It's
amazing technology. One of them is to measure your carbon for the exchange at
your house -- at your house, so they know exactly how much energy you are using
and carbon so you can pay. It's good, ain't it?

Oh, and there's another one that
we haven't really figured out yet. It's a way for the -- I guess, the
government or whoever would be Fannie probably to be able to lock your outlets in
your house. We got a couple of congressmen trying to get information on that
but we -- they can't seem to get it from Fannie Mae. [Fox News, Glenn
Beck, 5/20/10, via Nexis]

May 27,
2010: Chaffetz And Issa Sent Letter Seeking Information On "Unusual" Fannie Mae
"Tamper-Resistant Outlet Cover." From a second letter to
Williams from Issa and Chaffetz:

As you may know, Fannie Mae has been assigned 20 patents. Aside
from Patent Nos. 6,904,336 and 7,133,750, all but one of Fannie's patents
appear to be at least tangentially related to the business of pricing and
evaluating loans. However, Patent No. 6,674,003, for a "tamper-resistant outlet
cover," strikes us as unusual. In addition to your responses to our questions
about Fannie's parents related to residential emissions trading, please answer
the following straight-forward questions about patent No. 6,674,003:

7. A full and complete explanation of
Fannie Mae's decision to file the patent application.

8. All records and communications
referring to or relating to the decision to file the patent application.

9. A full disclosure of any royalties
collected by Fannie Mae from enforcement of the patent. [Letter, 5/27/10, via Chaffetz.House.gov]

June 7, 2010: FHFA Said Patent Is
For Device Invented By Fannie Mae Electrician To Protect Computer Systems From
Overloads. In a second letter to Chaffetz and Issa, Pollard wrote:

Patent No. 6,674,003

Your May 27th letter also requested information regarding U.S.
Patent No. 6,674,003, for a "tamper-resistant outlet cover." This device,
invented by an electrician on Fannie Mae's staff, protects computer systems and
hard drives containing critical data in an office environment. More specifically,
the device prevents unauthorized or unqualified personnel from connecting
equipment to outlets, such as vacuum cleaners or heaters, which may cause circuit
overloads, trip circuit breakers and result in the loss or alteration of data
residing on the computer systems powered by the same electrical network. Fannie
Mae has made use of this device in its data centers to minimize the risk of
unintentional circuit interruptions. [Pollard letter, 6/7/10, via Chaffetz.House.gov]

FHFA Pointed Out That Bush's HUD Said Such
Patents Were Legal. From Pollard's letter:

Department of Housing and
Urban Development ("HUD") Determination Letter

In 2006 and 2007, HUD, the former mission regulator for Fannie
Mae and Freddie Mac, conducted a thorough review of Fannie Mae's patent
activities, including its applications to patent the residential emission
trading concept described by Patent Nos. 6,904,336 and 7,133,750. HUD considered
both the company's business reasons for seeking patent protection and its legal
authority to do so. HUD also conducted independent research into the financial
service industry's patenting practices, particularly in regard to technology
innovations for business processes. In its determination letter dated August 7,
2007, HUD noted the growing number of patents issued for technology-based
business processes, the significant increase in patent infringement litigation,
and the enormous costs associated with patent defense. HUD concluded that Fannie
Mae is permitted to acquire, hold and license domestic and foreign patents for
any activity except those that are expressly prohibited by its charter, but
that Fannie Mae may only use patents to engage in activities that are
authorized under its chatter. I enclose a copy of HUD's determination letter,
as requested by your staff. [Pollard letter, 6/7/10, via Chaffetz.House.gov]

July
15, 2010: On Beck's Radio Show, Chaffetz Said He Would Introduce Bill Because He Was Unhappy With
FHFA's Responses To His Letters. From Beck's radio show:

BECK: [Chaffetz] has been helping us on the freedom of
information to be able to find out what the hell is going on with Freddie and
Fannie, especially in relations to the cap and trade business and the climate
exchange, the Chicago Climate Exchange. Jason, Congressman, welcome to the
problem

CHAFFETZ: Hey, thanks for having me on, Glenn.

BECK: You are introducing a bill today?

CHAFFETZ: Today, yes.

BECK: What is it?

CHAFFETZ: It's called the Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac
Transparency Act of 2010 and what it would allow us to do is issue FOIA
requests, the freedom of information requests that the public can ask for,
members of Congress, anybody can ask for to get the documents that are within
Fannie and Freddie. Amazingly enough, they don't believe that they're subject
to the questions -- even as a member of Congress, I'm on Oversight and Government Reform, I'm a
ranking member and they won't answer my questions. So, we're going to have to
change the law. [Premiere Radio Network, The
Glenn Beck Program,
6/15/10, via Media Matters]

July
15, 2010: On Beck's Radio Show, Chaffetz Said FHFA's Claims On Fannie Mae Outlet Patent Are "Hogwash."
From Beck's radio show:

BECK: Jason, what have you found out on the outlet lock that
they have the patent on?

CHAFFETZ: Well they say in this letter that, 'oh this is just a
guy on staff.' And they were using it to try to make sure that it doesn't, you
know, it doesn't allow surges on computers. Well, baloney. I mean they went so
far as to get their attorneys engaged and they went and got these patents. And
what it does it, it allows to take an individual unit, and you can go up to the
actual outlet -- And it says it's for home, it doesn't say it's for business -
and they go into the home and they can actually turn off your energy. So you -
it literally locks down your energy in your home. And the concern that some of
us have is that if they're pursuing cap and trade this would also allow them to
go and say, 'you know what, you've used too much energy this month, you're not
going to be able to access the very outlet that's in your home.'

[...]

BECK: The conspiracy here is
that - that you - that that would ever happen. But if you look at all of the
facts: Cap and trade is done through all of the usual suspects, through the
Carbon Climate Exchange. What they're doing is they're trying to sell
communities and people this new technology. For instance Van Jones says we're
going to have criminals come out of prison and then they'll start making solar
panels. Then they'll sell them to individuals so you in your home, what they'll
say is, 'for your savings, you just pay us the difference on what your energy
bill is now, you pay us how much you're saving, and give us that money and
we'll put all of the technology in your house. So they go into your house. They
put the technology of the solar panels in. they change your outlets, etc, etc.
That's one piece of the technology they own the patent on. The second piece is
the way to measure the carbon that you are burning in your home. Then they come
at the end of the month and they say 'ok, energy cost is this. You would have
paid this without this technology, so pay us 10% of the difference.' That's how
they get paid. But if you don't pay, if you -- if something happens, or if you
use too much energy, this outlet can only be opened with a special tool that
only they have the patent to. So if they lock down your outlets, how do you get
electricity?

CHAFFETZ:
I love what they say. This is what Alfred Pollard wrote to me just on June 7th.
He said, quote, the device prevent unauthorized or unqualified personnel from
connecting equipment to outlets such as vacuum cleaners or heaters which may
cause circuit overload, tripped circuit breakers and result in the loss of
alteration of data residing on the computer systems powered by the same electrical
network. [Premiere Radio Network, The Glenn Beck Program, 6/15/10, via Media Matters]

July 16, 2010: Chaffetz Introduced
"Fannie Mae And Freddie Mac Transparency Act Of 2010." Chaffetz's bill would
"apply the Freedom of Information Act" to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac "during
any period that such entities are in conservatorship or receivership." [H.R.
5539, 6/16/10]

BECK: Now, the good news. Fannie Mae has patent on a protector for your outlets. It's great. In fact, I have the schematic here for
it. It is fantastic and I want to tell you all about it. Because really -
because it's war.

We have to help Brazil drill,
help Soros' investment down in Brazil, pass cap-and-trade. I don't know if we
are going to stop the leak. That is a second thought. But when we passed
cap-and-trade, we got something really great.

I talked to Congressman Jason
Chaffetz about this product and here is how he explained it.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

REP. JASON CHAFFETZ (R-UT):
Well, they say in this letter that oh, this is just the guy on staff and they
were using it to try to make sure that it doesn't, you know - it doesn't allow
surges on computers. Well, baloney. I mean, they went so far as to get all
their attorneys engaged. And went and got these patents.

Now, what it does is, it allows
to take an individual unit. And you could go up to the actual outlet and it says it's for home. It doesn't say it's for
business.

BECK: Right.

CHAFFETZ: And they go into the
home and they can actually turn off your energy. So you - it literally, it locks
down your energy in your home. And the concern that some of us have is that if
they're pursuing cap-and-trade, this would also allow them to go and say,
"You know what? You've used too much energy this month, you're not going
to be able to access the very outlet that's in your home.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: Maybe, maybe not. We
don't know. That's what Congress is looking into now. They asked Alfred M.
Pollard, the general counsel for the Federal Housing Finance Agency to explain
why this mortgage company would need or want such a patent as this.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

CHAFFETZ: I love what they said.
This is what Alfred Pollard wrote to me just on June 7th. He said, quote,
"The device prevents unauthorized or unqualified personnel from connecting
equipment to outlets such as vacuum cleaners or heaters which may cause
circuit overload, tripped circuit breakers and result in loss or alteration of
data residing on the computer system powered by the same electrical
network."

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: I want to show this
to you. This device can be put into both of these sockets. They come in. They
put this in. If you see it here, it has a screw. But it opens up so you cannot
remove this from your outlets if they put it in unless you have a special device to unscrew
it.

Now, I don't know about you. I
can't tell you how often unauthorized, unqualified personnel come in my home
and just randomly plug in a vacuum into my outlet. Unauthorized 7-eleven clerk plugged in a Kirby in my outlet in the living room yesterday and blew out the whole
downstairs circuit. It was the third time this week. It's crazy. I can't tell
you how many computers I'm going through.

It's called a surge protector.
We don't need this. From our mortgage finance company that's underwater - I mean,
let's use this. It will protect us from the unauthorized people plugging in
vacuums in our homes, our washer and dryer, you know.

Some unauthorized guy came in
and just started plugging in washer and dryers all over the house and it blew
up my computer. I'll show you what this is all about next. [Fox News, Glenn
Beck, 6/17/10, via Nexis]

March
22, 2011: Beck Said Union Activist Has A "Plan To Commit Economic Terrorism"
And "Destroy America" By Telling People To Stop Paying Their Mortgages. From
Beck's Fox News show:

BECK: Now, let me play the audio for you. Again, I believe
nothing short of people planning an economic terrorist attack on our country.
This may.

And we just heard from the U.S. attorney what he believes it
is. The coin guy, at the very least, quote, "conspiracy against
America," end-quote -- a form of clear and present danger to the economic
stability of this country.

You listen to this tape and tell me if that doesn't fit this.

His name, the guy you're about to hear is Stephen Lerner.
He is a former top official at SEIU who left apparently when Andy Stern left.

[...]

Here is what he told other labor leaders this weekend. Listen
to his plan. Listen carefully. Here is the plan to destroy America

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

STEPHEN LERNER,
SEIU, JUSTICE FOR JANITORS: Unions are almost dead. We cannot survive doing
what we do. But the simple fact of the matter is community organizations are
almost dead also, and I think if you think about what we need to do, it may
give us some direction which is essentially what the folks that are in charge
-- you know, the big banks and everything -- what they want is stability.

There are actually extraordinary things that we could do right
now that would start to destabilize the folks that are in power and start to
rebuild a movement.

(END AUDIO CLIP)

BECK: OK. Remember, we just learned the United States
government has zero tolerance policy for those who pose an economic threat to
the economic stability of the nation. We just busted a guy printing up his own
coins.

Yet, here he is stating at an open conference that unions are
almost dead, as are community organizations, and they therefore must
destabilize those in power, the banks. He's now going to outline a plan on how
to collapse our government and our nation's financial system.

(BEGIN AUDIO CLIP)

LERNER: For example, 10 percent of homeowners going back to
where you started a quarter of the people who own a home are underwater, right?
Their home, they are paying more than its worth. Ten percent of those people
now are strategic default, meaning, they are refusing to pay but they are
staying in their home. That's totally spontaneous, right? They figured out it
takes a year to kick me out of my home because foreclosure is backed up, I'm
going to stay I won't pay.

It's a good business decision. If you could double that number,
you would make banks -- put banks at the edge of insolvency again.

What would happen if we could organize homeowners in mass t do
a mortgage strike? Just say, if we get half a million people to agree, we'll
agree we won't pay our mortgages. It would literally cause a new financial
crisis for the banks, not for us. We would be doing quite well because we
wouldn't be paying. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 3/24/11, via Nexis]

March 23, 2011: Chaffetz Sent Letter
To AG Holder Demanding He "Investigate Mr. Lerner's Terrorist Plans," Suggested
He May Hold Hearings On The Issue. From Chaffetz's letter to Attorney
General Eric Holder, obtained exclusively by Beck's website The Blaze:

The Federal Bureau of Investigation ("FBI") defines terrorism
as "the unlawful use of force or violence against persons or property to
intimidate or coerce a government, the civilian population, or any segment
thereof, in furtherance of political or social objectives." The escalation of Mr. Lerner's threats would
clearly constitute domestic terrorism and pose substantial harm to the American
people and the economy. I am therefore requesting that you investigate Mr.
Lerner's terrorist plans and notify me how the Department of Justice plans to
respond to these threats.

The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is the
principal oversight committee of the House of Representatives and may at "any
time" investigate "any matter" as set forth in House Rule X. An attachment to
this letter provides additional information about responding to the Committee's
request. [Chaffetz letter, 3/23/11, via The Blaze]

March 23, 2011: Beck Reported On
Chaffetz Letter, Praised Him For Being "On It." From Beck's Fox News show:

BECK: Even though you knew it was going to happen,
somehow it's still shocking, isn't that, that virtually no major media outlet
is digging deeper into a story that we had an exclusive uncovering of
yesterday. It is hard to imagine how people can ignore one of the most
individual leaders in the union movement who is actively plotting to collapse
the United States stock market and cause another financial crisis
intentionally.

I am happy to report tonight that at least one congressman is
on it. Now, this one -- there is more congressmen I understand than is on it.
This one has the job done. It is a letter to Eric Holder demanding to know what
the DOJ will do about it. And if they don't do anything about it, Congress, the
Committee of Oversight and Government Reform is the principal oversight
committee of the House of Representatives and may at any time investigate any
matter.

This is Jason Chaffetz that has done this. But we have heard
from Washington there are a few that are looking into this matter. We're
excited to see who will move first. [Fox News, Glenn Beck, 3/23/11, via Nexis]

Beck: "Refounder" Chaffetz Is One Of The
"Good Republicans" "That I Trust"

Beck Named Chaffetz As One Of The
"Good Republicans Out There." From Beck's Fox News program:

BECK: Now, there are good Republicans out there. Obviously,
DeMint is one. I think Michele Bachmann of Minnesota is one -- Jason Chaffetz of Utah, Ted Poe and John Culberson of Texas. I'm
sorry -- and the more I name, the more I keep thinking, I'm sorry guys for
calling you out like this because -- now there is just a hate on you. Mike
Pence of Indiana. [Fox News, Glenn Beck,
10/25/10, via Nexis]

Beck Said Chaffetz Is One Of The "Good Guys" "That I
Trust," Hosted Him To Discuss For Whom His Audience Should Vote. From
Beck's Fox News program:

BECK:
When it comes to voting, who do we
send? What do they need? What are we looking for? How do we get our country
back on course?

America is awake now. Now, maybe
we need just a little bit more focus.

I wanted to show you some of the
good guys that need your help.

From Minnesota: Congresswoman
Michele Bachmann.

These are three people that I
trust.

There is the Utah Congressman Jason Chaffetz. Jason first came to mind or came to my attention
when -- there was a story printed in a local newspaper that he was embarrassing
his daughter when he went to, I think it was a Wal-Mart.

Beck Would "Vote For"
Chaffetz Because He Is A "Person Of Character." From Beck's Fox News
program:

BECK: OK. So, let's kind of open
this up to you, guys, in Congress.

I will tell you that I'm done
wasting my vote. I'm tired of people telling me I'm wasting my vote by not
voting for somebody who I really believe in because they don't have a chance,
you know? Well, then you're going to get -- then you're going to have the
liberal -- well, I got the Republicans in anyway and they stunk on ice for a
very long time. So, didn't I waste all of those votes for a long time?

I'm going to vote for a person of
character -- so I guess I would go with you, Jason. [Fox
News, Glenn Beck, 10/26/10, via Nexis]

Beck: Unlike Most In
Congress, Chaffetz Still Has "An Ounce Of [His] Soul Left." From Beck's radio
show:

GLENN: You bet, bye bye. I want you to know I don't endorse any
candidate, I don't endorse any congressman, any senator. I don't trust any of
them. But I decided I'm not going to go to I'm going to go to the barrel. I'm
not going to keep going. I'm going to go to the tree; I'm not going to go to
the barrel. I've stopped looking for people who have been there for a long
time. Name the person that has gone to Washington and come back years later as
a better person. I can't. So I'm going to go to the freshmen, while they still
have an ounce of their soul left, and Chaffetz is one of them. And he really
does want to get in there and expose the corruption, and he really doesn't care
which side it's on. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 12/11/09, Via GlennBeck.com]

Beck Said Chaffetz "Should Be A
Refounder" Because He "Gets It And Is Always On The Front Line Fighting For The
Right Things." From Beck's radio show:

GLENN:
We have a guy who -- I don't know if he's a
refounder or not because they don't tell me who the refounders are. He should
be a refounder. Jason Chaffetz is a Congressman in Washington DC. He's from
Utah and he's one guy who gets it and is always on the front line fighting for
the right things. He has been helping us on the freedom of information to be
able to find out what the hell is going on with Freddie and Fannie, especially
in relations to the cap and trade business and the climate exchange, the
Chicago climate exchange.

[...]

GLENN:
Jason, thank you very much. We'll talk to you again. All right. There are good
guys in Washington and Jason Chaffetz is one of them. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 7/15/10, via GlennBeck.com]

Beck: Chaffetz Is "One Of The Good Guys In Congress."
From Beck's radio show:

GLENN: We have Jason Chaffetz on, Congressman from Utah. Jason
is one of the good guys in Congress and I say that I think I can count many of
them on I think I might count all of them on one hand, but maybe it will take
two, but he's one of the fingers, if I'm counting the good guys in Congress.
[Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck
Program, 9/27/10, via GlennBeck.com]

Beck: Chaffetz Is A "True
Republican" From "The Jefferson Part Of The Movement." From Beck's radio
show:

GLENN: No, that was only the, that was only the Jefferson part
of the movement. The tea party thing is really the Jefferson, Jefferson. A
Republican. Not in the way we know them now. Before daddy's favorite president.
Before there were progressives. A true Republican, which is for state control.
Not a big federal government. I mean, how far away from the true Republican can
you possibly be? If I said a Republican is somebody who is for the smallest
possible government and does not like state wants state control, not federal
control, name the Republicans that think that way.

Beck Identified Chaffetz As "An
Honest Guy," Says "Take Him At His Word." From Beck's radio show:

GLENN: — being exposed. Now, remember the things that you are
seeing — according to Jason Chaffetz, he says that this is not — what you are
seeing is not real. He's seen the — he's seen the actual classified photos.
Because it's all classified because they are — you know, they're citizens.

PAT: Yes.

GLENN: So he's seen the classified photos. He says it's
absolute pornography. He said you can see absolutely everything. And they can
save it and they can send it from the machine.

PAT: Didn't he say you could see the sweat on their back?

GLENN: Oh, yeah. He said it is so crystal clear, if somebody's
sweating, you can see the sweat come down their back.

STU: And I know, and he's very against it. I haven't seen the
photos. It's hard to judge from that perspective.

GLENN: Just take him at his word. I mean, he is an honest guy. [Premiere
Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 11/22/10, via GlennBeck.com]

Chaffetz
Reportedly Calls Beck A "Great Educator."
From a column by Bloomberg News' Al
Hunt: "More than the other right-wing talk show provocateurs, Beck's
devotees see him as a teacher. Jason Chaffetz, a Republican congressman from
Utah, calls him a 'great educator.'" [Bloomberg
News, 9/6/10]

Chaffetz Has Appeared On Beck's Fox
News Show At Least 8 Times. According to a Nexis search, Chaffetz appeared
on the following editions of Beck's Fox News' program: March 10, 2011;
January 3, 2011; December 13, 2010; October 26, 2010; May 17, 2010; June 24,
2009; February 9, 2009; February 2, 2009. Chaffetz was interviewed by guest host
Andrew Napolitano for three of those appearances. [Nexis search, conducted
3/24/11]

Chaffetz Is Reportedly "Beloved By
Glenn Beck's Devotees." From The Salt
Lake Tribune: "By
all accounts, Rep. Jason Chaffetz is a Republican's Republican. Beloved by Glenn
Beck's devotees and tea party activists, he has proposed ways to shrink
government and even the paychecks of its highest paid employees." [Salt Lake Tribune, 8/3/10]

Chaffetz
Has Promoted, Fundraised For, And Participated In Beck Events

Restoring Honor Rally And The Special
Operations Warrior Foundation

Chaffetz Scheduled Staff Retreat So
He And Staff Could Attend Beck's Restoring Honor Rally. From The Salt Lake Tribune's Out of Context
blog:

Rep. Jason Chaffetz is flying in some of his congressional
staff in Utah for a retreat in Washington, D.C. this week. It isn't a
coincidence that it's the same weekend when as a major rally being promoted by
conservative talking head Glenn Beck.

Chaffetz's district director and a few others, he says, will
fly to the nation's capital - on the taxpayer's dime -- for a staff
get-together Thursday and Friday, and at least some, including Chaffetz, plan
to stay for Beck's big event Saturday at the Lincoln Memorial. [Salt Lake Tribune's blog, Out of
Context, 8/24/10]

Glenn Beck says there's nothing political about the Aug. 28th
"Restoring Honor" rally he is organizing with a veterans group
in Washington.

[...]

All the money raised through Beck for the Special Operations
Warrior Foundation will first go toward covering the cost of the rally. But
Edie Rosenthal, a foundation spokeswoman, told POLITICO in a March interview
that the group expected to receive a large donation after the expenses are covered.

Meanwhile, Beck has been actively involved in raising money for the group. [...]

On Friday night, Chaffetz and fellow Utah Republican Sen. Orrin Hatch were to
have joined Beck at a fundraiser in Salt Lake City at which guests paid $2,500
get to have their pictures taken with Beck. Proceeds were to go to the
foundation. [Politico, 7/17/10]

American Revival

Beck's "American Revival," a combination of politics and
stadium evangelism that promotional materials labeled a "fusion of
entertainment and enlightenment," is mostly about duty to God. And from the EnergySolutions
Arena pulpit on Saturday, the TV and radio personality told roughly 5,000
ticketed fans it's a duty requiring restoration of religion in public life.

[...]

Sen. Orrin Hatch, R-Utah, led the crowd in the Pledge of
Allegiance to start the day, and Rep. Jason Chaffetz, R-Utah, said an opening
prayer. [Salt Lake Tribune, 7/18/10]

Funds Went To Beck's Production
Company. From Politico:

On Saturday, Chaffetz
and Hatch were planning to attend one of a series of Beck "American Revival"
events at the Energy Solutions Arena in downtown Salt Lake City, where tickets
range from $45 to $175. The revenue from this event are expected to go to
Beck's production company, Mercury Radio Arts, which is also putting on the
Restoring Honor rally." [Politico, 7/17/10]

Beck
And Chaffetz Planned A "Special Project" To "Clean Up The Corruption"

Beck Revealed The Plan For The
"Project" While Interviewing Chaffetz. On his radio show, Beck said to
Chaffetz:

You called me two days ago because you and I are actually
working on a special project. I'm looked at Joe. Can I say? I'm not going to
announce it, but can I say? I'm working on a special project because I've been
looking for people that just, I don't care if I agree or disagree with you.
Just clean up the corruption. And hopefully we'll be able to talk about that
openly on something that I'm working with you on here in the coming days and
weeks. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 12/11/09, via Media Matters]

Chaffetz Promoted "Special Project"
In Interview With Deseret News. Deseret News reported of Chaffetz: "He
says to look forward to an announcement from conservative Glenn Beck about a
project the pair hope to do together, and legislation about campaign finance
reform and public lands issues." [Deseret
News, 1/4/10]

Beck And Chaffetz Agree That "These Are The Days The Constitution Will Hang By A Thread"

Beck Asked Chaffetz Whether He Agreed With Statement Weeks After His Election. During his first interview on Beck's radio show, the two had the following exchange:

GLENN: So congressman, what can people do? Probably the most asked question is, okay, I get the problem. I mean, we are in deep, deep trouble. Do you believe this, these are the days when the Constitution will hang by a thread?

CONGRESSMAN CHAFFETZ: Yeah, I do. You know, when I read a quote from Barack Obama who just said, quote, we've got to focus on making sure that we're creating those 2.5 million jobs. It's not the proper role of government to create the jobs. It's the business community. It's the local business community that creates the jobs. It's the proper role of government to get out of the way. And somehow we think that government's going to come in and solve everything and be this nanny state, and I absolutely reject that. Absolutely reject it. They have promised to put root beer in every drinking fountain and it ain't gonna happen. [Premiere Radio Networks, The Glenn Beck Program, 11/25/08, via GlennBeck.com]

In one of his first appearances on Fox News, Glenn Beck sent a coded message to the nation's six million Mormons -- or at least those Mormons who believe in what the Latter-day Saints call "the White Horse Prophecy."

"We are at the place where the Constitution hangs in the balance," Beck told Bill O'Reilly on November 14, 2008, just after President Obama's election. "I feel the Constitution is hanging in the balance right now, hanging by a thread unless the good Americans wake up."

The Constitution is hanging by a thread.

Most Americans would have heard this as just another bit of overblown commentary and thought nothing more of it. But to those familiar with the White Horse Prophecy, it was an unmistakable signal.

The phrase is often attributed to the Prophet Joseph Smith, founder of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, or Mormon Church. Smith is believed to have said in 1840 that when the Constitution hangs by a thread, elders of the Mormon Church will step in -- on the proverbial white horse -- to save the country.

"When the Constitution of the United States hangs, as it were, upon a single thread, they will have to call for the 'Mormon' Elders to save it from utter destruction; and they will step forth and do it," Brigham Young, Smith's successor as head of the church, wrote in 1855.

Was it just a coincidence in wording, or was Beck, a 1999 Mormon convert, speaking in coded language about the need to fulfill the Mormon prophecy? A conversation on Beck's radio show ten days earlier would seem to rule out coincidence. Beck was interviewing Senator Orrin Hatch of Utah, also a Mormon, when he said: "I heard Barack Obama talk about the Constitution and I thought, we are at the point or we are very near the point where our Constitution is hanging by a thread." [Huffington Post, 10/5/10]